The visitors coughed up possession at key moments during the match, but a Nic White try and five penalty goals to Christian Lealiifano proved enough to account for the Blues.

The win, following last weekend's loss to the Waratahs, moves the Brumbies to 50 points, six ahead of Queensland, who play the Stormers in Cape Town early Sunday morning (AEST).

They also move to outright second place on the overall ladder, although the Bulls are still to play the Sharks in Pretoria this weekend.

The Brumbies' success was built on tactical kicking, which pinned the Blues back for the majority of the first half, with the home side guilty of numerous handling errors and struggling at the line-out.

To come out here and play in the conditions like they were in the first half and execute our plan I thought our guys were really good tonight.

Brumbies captain Ben Mowen

The Blues improved after the break but they gave themselves too much to do with the conditions not helping their exciting backline, while much of the second half was spent resetting scrums.

"To come out here and play in the conditions like they were in the first half and execute our plan I thought our guys were really good tonight," Brumbies skipper Ben Mowen said.

"Our defence was extremely strong in that first half."

Lealiifano slotted two penalties in the first 17 minutes to put the Brumbies ahead 6-0 before White cleverly used the wet conditions to score the opening try five minutes later.

Blues winger George Moala dropped a greasy high ball and after the Brumbies forwards piled in to the ruck, the ball squirted free and White hacked through and slid over from well short of the goal line to avoid a tackle for the first five pointer.

Lealiifano failed to convert the tricky effort from near the right touchline but did slot another penalty before the hooter as the Brumbies went in 14-0 ahead at half-time.

Fly half Chris Noakes slotted an early penalty to get the Blues on the board, before outside centre Rene Ranger crossed for a try in the 53rd minute after a smart dummy and break by All Black half-back Piri Weepu.

Noakes converted to close the gap to 14-10 but Lealiifano slotted two more penalties to one from Blues replacement Baden Kerr as the Brumbies claimed the four points.

Jason Hayward slotted over a 79th minute penalty to give the Force a one-point win over the Highlanders in the battle of Super Rugby's basement dwellers.

Hayward knocked over the winning kick from 25 metres after replacement back Maritino Nemani made a rash late tackle after the full-back had kicked clear.

It was just the Force's third win of the campaign and left the visiting Highlanders rooted to the bottom of the table after they failed to add to their sole success in 2013.

The Force enjoyed the bulk of possession and territory in the first period as once again the Highlanders' big names struggled to make an impact.

A snaking run by Hayward set up the game's only try in the 16th minute as he was finally brought down inches short of the try line but quick ball was fed to fly half Sias Ebersohn who touched down in the corner for the opening score.

Hayward and Hayden Parker then exchanged penalties but the Force full-back missed a straightforward effort just before half-time to leave the home side ahead 10-6 at the interval.

Colin Slade came on as a second half replacement for the Highlanders and he kicked two penalties which were matched by Hayward to leave the Force 16-12 ahead on the hour mark.

Force half-back Alby Mathewson was then sent to the sin-bin but the Highlanders could not find a way past the 14 men with some poor decision making and last gasp tackling preventing a try.

Slade did knock over a third penalty to cut the deficit to one point and the All Blacks fly half smashed over a lengthy 50-metre effort with three minutes remaining to put the visitors 18-16 ahead and in sight of victory.

But Nemani's error proved crucial with Hayward's fourth penalty claiming the Force's first win in six matches.

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